“We didn’t make this decision,” says restaurateur Charles Khabouth, chief executive at INK Entertainment, the club’s parent company. “It was kind of made for us. The building was sold. I tried to buy it with my partners, but we couldn’t cut a deal.”

The end of an era — more than 12 million people passed through The Guvernment over the years — will also change the city’s DNA on the waterfront. New condos are already climbing into the skyline. The Guvernment, near Jarvis on Queens Quay E., is expected to be replaced by a commercial and residential project.

The closure will also leave a gaping hole in concert scheduling.

“It’s not going to be easily replaced, which leaves the city with Sound Academy as the only other option at this size,” says promoter Amy Hersenhoren of Collective Concerts. “It’s going to make booking dates very, very competitive for the acts that require a 2,500-capacity venue.”

“It’s definitely going to have an impact,” says Khabouth. “But we will move our concerts down the street to where Sound Academy is now. The idea is to totally renovate Sound Academy and create a new venue that will serve both purposes: a great concert venue as well as a nightclub called ‘The Guvernment’ on Saturday nights.”

Khabouth acquired Sound Academy last year.

Not long after The Guvernment opened in 1996, it became a destination for music lovers and dance enthusiasts. Over the years, the space morphed to include Koolhaus, Haven, The Gallery, Surface, Chroma and Skybar, all while earning international raves. It was once rated the best nightclub in the world by NiteGuide magazine. (The Guvernment was previously known as RPM.)

There have been more than 7,000 concerts at The Guvernment over the past 18 years, including Prince, Bob Dylan, The Killers, Kings of Leon and Lady Gaga. This is where deejay Deadmau5 got his start. It’s where a young, relatively unknown Justin Bieber first caused pandemonium with mobs of teenage girls.

Khabouth says he is now in the early stages of developing a new multi-use entertainment complex, one that could open in three years. And while he’s excited about INK’s relentless expansion — three new restaurants are set to debut this year — he’s also nostalgic about closing The Guvernment, where he amassed “some of my best years and some of my favourite memories.”

This was a place where future couples met, where young people worked their way through college, where lineups snaked around the block on summer nights. It was a rite of passage, a generational touchstone.

Now Khabouth is already thinking about one last cycle of parties — Caribana, New Year’s Eve, Labour Day Weekend — that will take place over the next few months.

“Everybody in the city knows The Guvernment,” he says. “Unfortunately or fortunately, the party just never stopped.”

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